


Oceanic

by Sectanza



Series: Ray Expansion [2]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: Developing Friendships, Gen, Original Character(s), Original Species, Raylings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 01:30:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15938978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sectanza/pseuds/Sectanza
Summary: It's been nine months since Agent 4's run-in with Raylings and success in returning the Great Zapfish. One fateful day after a Rainmaker match, 4 meets Monroe again; only this time, their departure was even stranger and quicker than last time. They visit often now, but things continue to get weirder and weirder. Agent 4's new mission is clear; read as deep as possible into every conversation with Monroe and figure out what smells so fishy!





	Oceanic

It’d been nine months since the Great Zapfish was returned to Inkopolis, and Agent 4 was enjoying her time off from the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Sporting her Enperry gear and throwing a pair of Splat Dualies into her bag, she hightailed it out of the lobby and to the Crust Bucket; all those Rainmaker matches made her hungry, and with a new map rotation to Clam Blitz about to take place, 4 decided that she might as well put all the tickets she got from the Enhancifier to use in Turf War. As she walked towards the counter and filtered through her tickets, something prodded at her memory. Whatever happened to Monroe? Now that she thought about it, Agent 4 hadn’t seen the Raylings since her mission to Inkblot, and Monroe promised her more tickets. Really, she had more than enough tickets as is, but she was still promised more! Speaking of the devilfish, though, as Agent 4 took her Double-Fried Schwaffle to the tables beside the truck, she noticed a familiar face waving her over with a smile. Disappointed as she may have been in Monroe for disappearing for so long, it was nice to see them again, so she quickly moved over and took the seat across from them.  
“Long time no see, squid kid! How’ve ya been?”  
“Better question is, how have you been?” Agent 4 immediately retorted with a pout. “You left without any explanation and I didn’t see any of you for almost a year!”  
“Yeah, about that,” Monroe started, glancing a bit awkwardly to the side, “news about a permanent place to stay that was built a long time ago finally started to spread not too long after I met you. Staying in an actual city sounded a lot nicer than crowding in water that doesn’t get cleaned ‘til the end of the day.”  
Agent 4 just raised an eyebrow.  
“It’s confusing and weird, I know, but things are like that when your species has only been around a couple hundred years. Regardless, the place is called The Trench. Big ol’ ravine nice and close to the water, quite a trip from there to here, that’s why I haven’t visited in a while. Well, that and I’ve been busy, what with the band and such.”  
“You’re in a band now?”  
“Coral Collection, squid kid! We’ve been jazzin’ up brawls since last month!” With the big grin that spread across Monroe’s face, it was easy to tell they loved talking about their new band. “I mean, we’ve still got a lot of stuff in the demo stage, but we’re workin’ on it. Folks love us already, so we’ve got a bright future ahead.”  
Agent 4 pouted again. “Sounds like you’ve been doing a lot. I don’t miss New Squidbeak much, but at least it gave me something helpful to do other than Turf and stuff like I’m doing now. Seems like everybody I know has a lot of exciting stuff on their plate, though.”  
“You could always visit The Trench. Lots you could do to help us out there, and I think the rays that’ve been there all this time would love to see a new face.” Suddenly, Monroe’s face wrinkled a bit. “Like I said though, it’s a really long trip. Probably not worth taking.”  
The weird change of tone and expression threw Agent 4 off. “I don’t mind taking a bit of a trip, y’know.”  
“Well, I mean, yeah, I expect that from ya, kid. You seem pretty proactive, but the place would probably be too boring for you. Still got lots of developing to do, y’know? We’ve barely even got restaurants there.”  
“Wouldn’t that be the point of going there, though…?”  
Monroe just shrugged, going on to change the subject with, “you should take up a fun hobby, like painting or something, instead. It’d probably suit you better, lot easier, too.”  
She just sat there, bewildered. Why were they acting so strange all of a sudden? It seemed like they were trying to keep her from going to The Trench--were the Raylings in Inkblot upset with her or something?  
A buzz from underneath the opposite end of the table wrecked their train of thought, and Monroe pulled a phone with a ring-patterned case out of their pocket, eyes scanning over the message they just got. Then, with a disgruntled sort of sigh, they stood up. “I gotta swim, kid. I, er--it’s embarrassing--Bermuda just asked if I remembered to feed Remy and I’m pretty sure I didn’t.”  
“Who?”  
“Bermuda’s the pianist, Remy’s my fish, a smart one at that, but it doesn’t change the fact that he doesn’t have hands and can’t open bags by himself. I just came to Inkopolis to say hi to ya anyways, so I don’t really have anything to stay here for.”  
“Are you okay?”  
“Yeah yeah, I’m fine! Just a bit flustered. I’m a big shot, supposed to be on top of things, but I can’t remember feed my own fish, y’know?” Monroe gave a laugh as they put their phone back in their pocket, the tails on their coat swishing behind them as they already turned to leave. “I’ll catch ya some other time, squiddie. Promise it won’t be a year this time!”  
From a mix of the complete bewilderment and the speed that the ray took off, Agent 4 had no time to say anything else. Something was fishy, and she had no time to laugh about the pun. Looking down at the table, though, 4 did realize that in the heat of the conversation, her Schwaffle was left to get cold and stale.  
Well, no time for puns, but there’s always time for a snack.


End file.
